Process and formulation to join ceramic forms while maintaining structural and physical characteristics across the bond surface

A bonding material consisting of an aqueous admixture of:

• from about 50 wt % to about 90 wt % of chopped aluminum borosilicate fibers having an average length of from about 1/16th of an inch to about ½ of an inch;
• from about 0.01 wt % to about 5 wt % of lithium metaborate;
• and
• from greater than about 0 wt % to about 10 wt % methylcellulose.

A composite structure comprising:

• a first ceramic foam substrate having a first ceramic foam substrate bonding surface and a second ceramic foam substrate having a second ceramic foam substrate bonding surface;
• wherein the first and second substrates are fused at a bonding region consisting of product produced by curing, at a temperature of from about 1,000° C. to about 1,600° C., the following:
• a thickening agent selected from a starch, a vegetable gum, a sugar, a protein, pectin, a cellulosic material, gelatin a synthetic thickening agent, and combinations thereof,
• material at the first ceramic foam substrate bonding surface,
• material at the second ceramic foam substrate bonding surface,
• one or more of sodium carbonate, boron carbide, lithium metaborate, cadmium borate, cadmium borosilicate, bismuth oxide, lithium tetraborate, and lead borosilicate, and
• fibers selected from fibers of silica (SiO2), alumina (Al2O3), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), titanium oxide (TiO2), aluminum silicate (Al-Si-oxide), aluminum borosilicate—with or without an alkali metal, carbon, borosilicate, silicon nitride (SiN) or silicon carbide (SiC) and combinations thereof.